Every year we are indebted to our awards panels for the significant time, energy and consideration they dedicated to assessing award entries.
The 2020 awards panels, chaired by Martin Ince, were:
| Award category | Panel |
| Editor of the Year | Alun Anderson Ben Deighton |
| British Science Journalist of the Year | William Cullerne Bown Jeremy Webb |
| Feature of the Year - general audience | Brian Clegg Martin Ince Jo Marchant |
| Feature of the Year - specialist audience | Jane Qiu Jon Turney |
| Innovation of the Year | Jon Fildes Roxanne Khamsi |
| Steve Connor Award for Investigative Journalism | Wendy Barnaby Gaia Vince |
| NUJ Stephen White Award for Communication and Reporting | Simon Oxenham Victoria Parsons |
| News Item of the Year | Niall Firth Joanna Roberts |
| News Analysis or Explanatory Reporting of the Year | Lou Del Bello Mike Wendling |
| Research Policy or Funding Story of the Year | Andy Coghlan Mun Keat Looi |
| Opinion Piece or Editorial of the Year | Jessica Aldred Anita Makri |
| Engineering or Technology Story of the Year | Charles Arthur Wendy Grossman |
| Royal Society Audio Award | Martin Redfern Dai Richards |
| Video Story of the Year | Leo Enright Richard Scrase |
| Newcomer of the Year | Pam Das Barbara Melville |
| Katharine Giles Science Blog Award | Wendy Grossman Martin Ince |